South Perth: colourful murals a creative fix to graffiti problem

Caitlin Robinson-Bethall and Joseph Vinciguerra work on one of the murals.

COLOURFUL murals have proven to be a creative way to solve a graffiti problem on several telecommunications huts near the Kwinana Freeway in South Perth.

South Metropolitan Tafe Gaining Access to Training and Education and General Education for Adults students have celebrated the official unveiling of their murals, which have transformed the vandalised telecommunication huts along the Kwinana Freeway into works of art.

More than 80 students have been involved with the project through all stages, from the design phase to painting the artwork and creating design and stencils.

Lecturer Emma Margetts said she was approached by the WA Police Graffiti Team about three years ago with the idea of involving disengaged young people in the project.

“The huts had become a hotspot for graffiti because of their high-profile location,” she said.

“At first I had the idea of painting at the site, but it raised some tricky issues in regards to occupational health and safety, so we started by painting the artwork on boards.”

Ms Margetts said some of the themes shown in the murals reflected the huts’ location in a natural environment and she hoped they were mysterious and intriguing for the public.

“It was great to encourage the students to collaborate with the police in a safe environment and the project has exceeded my expectations,” she said.